Brandweek: 'There's controversy in ad world over portrayal of fathers in TV ads'
February 25th, 2008 by Glenn Sacks, MA for Fathers & Families
"There's a mini-controversy brewing in the advertising world over the sometimes-stereotypical portrayal of fathers in TV ads. Most notably, fathers' rights advocate Glenn Sacks almost succeeded in derailing a bid by Arnold, Boston, to win the Volvo account. Sacks complained that a previous Arnold ad for Fidelity Investments showed a father in a negative light. Arnold has since won the account and Sacks said he has no issues with the agency's ads for Volvo."
We've done several protests against ads which portray men and fathers as clowns--see Campaign Against Anti-Father Verizon Commercial, Campaign Against Anti-Male Advertising, Campaign Against Detroit News ‘Get Her a Gift or She’ll Give You a Black Eye’ Ad and Portable On Demand Storage Decides to Remove Anti-Male Ad in Face of Protests. The Volvo/Arnold campaign referenced above was the brainchild of advertising guru Richard Smaglick of www.fathersandhusbands.org, and he worked with me on the campaign.
Brandweek Magazine is a weekly marketing trade publication, one of the largest in the advertising world. In November, Brandweek editor Todd Wasserman discussed the problem of 'Dad as Idiot' advertising in his column The Surviving Dads Of Ads (11/12/07), writing, "It’s hard to argue that guys like Sacks don’t have a point". He discussed several of the anti-male ads we cover on this blog, as well as some of our campaigns against anti-male advertising.
After the article came out, our readers flooded the magazine with letters, 12 of which were printed--to read some of them and learn more, see my blog post Brandweek Prints Dozen Letters Criticizing Anti-Male Advertising. Later the Washington Times interviewed Wasserman and published an article on the subject of father-bashing in TV advertising. The Times wrote:
"Todd Wasserman knew he had touched a nerve when he saw the enormous number of responses from readers...The dad-as-buffoon and the anti-father imagery seemingly permeated advertising and marketing campaigns, which continually use stereotypes about men to get cheap laughs, he observed...The letters poured in. 'I don't think we ever got so much reaction,' said Mr. Wasserman...the more people I talked to, the more it seemed a lot of people felt that way.'"
Today Brandweek came out with a new article on the Spike network's True Dads series and the issue of how men and fathers are portrayed on television. They write:
"The Spike network, home to Ultimate Fighting Championship and Steven Segal movies, is channeling that testosterone-fueled lineage to cater to that frequently mocked demo: dads.
"The idea is proving to be an advertiser magnet, with Red Lobster recently inking a first-time deal for True Dads, an on-air series of spots that show dads spending time with their kids. Call it the slightly softer side of Spike."
We'll be talking more about Spike's "True Dads" campaign soon. If readers would like to write a Letter to the Editor of Brandweek and express their views about the way men and fathers are portrayed within the advertising industry, go to feedback@brandweek.com.
One quibble--when Richard and I did the Volvo campaign, we weren't unhappy over one previous Arnold Worldwide ad, as Brandweek indicates, but several ads. Some of them can be seen on our campaign page here. Also, as I've explained many times, the problem is usually not this particular ad or that one, but instead a consistent pattern of portraying men negatively.
To learn more about the problems with the way men are portrayed in advertising, click here.
The Biz: Spike Takes Break From Bond Marathons To Laud Fathers
Brandweek Magazine
February 25, 2008
The Spike network, home to Ultimate Fighting Championship and Steven Segal movies, is channeling that testosterone-fueled lineage to cater to that frequently mocked demo: dads.
The idea is proving to be an advertiser magnet, with Red Lobster recently inking a first-time deal for True Dads, an on-air series of spots that show dads spending time with their kids. Call it the slightly softer side of Spike.
A number of sponsors, including Jeep,
T-Mobile and Pizza Hut, already have linked with True Dads, which the network now sells as part of its upfront presentations to advertisers. The Darden Restaurants-owned Red Lobster chain's brand will be featured in the new co-branded spots starting next month.
The program is an example of the ways in which cable channels are getting increasingly creative in order to snag ad dollars and give marketers face time outside of traditional ad pods. Broadcast networks are inching further into that territory, but the looser cable environment seems to favor the risk-taking necessary for the campaigns to work.
Spike has embedded advertisers into unscripted series, such as Toyota's inclusion in Pros vs. Joes. Those deals often wind up spilling over to single-marketer commercial breaks, on-air contests and other attention-grabbing gimmicks.
Spike has a history of packaging its shows, from its wrestling and movie nights to late night sports and reality. The network created a micro-miniseries for Mountain Dew, 45-second segments, to run in Thursday night's TNA Impact, a series that's a little mixed martial arts and a lot of theatricality. On the horizon for ad partners: live commercials.
"The market demands it right now," said Chris Rapp, Spike's vp-integrated marketing, "and putting short-form content on the air gets viewers more engaged in the brand and in our network."
True Dads works like this: when an advertiser wants to participate, Spike's internal creative team comes up with a concept for linking the theme of dads and kids with the brand's message. With input from the marketer, the team puts together a custom-made co-branded spot, usually 30 seconds, that airs throughout Spike's schedule. Advertisers have bought into the program for weeks or months at a stretch.
The Red Lobster spot features a father and his son on a fishing trip that turns out to be not too successful. They have to eat something, so their seafood craving is satisfied at Red Lobster.
The family-friendly campaign, emphasizing the "fresh" theme of the restaurant chain's current mantra, happens to coincide nicely with Lent, a time when fish consumption is up.
Spike has done similar work for Dunkin' Donuts, T-Mobile and Dominos. Those brands have been woven into vignettes called The CSI Guys, a parody of the popular CSI series.
The stars of that short-form programming might use a victim's cell phone to call for pizza, for instance. The marketers always have approval of the spots, but rarely want to tone down the irreverence.
"We position ourselves as the voice for guys," Rapp said, "and advertisers look to us to figure out ways to connect with that audience in the language they speak."
True Dads comes as there's a mini-controversy brewing in the advertising world over the sometimes-stereotypical portrayal of fathers in TV ads. Most notably, fathers' rights advocate Glenn Sacks almost succeeded in derailing a bid by Arnold, Boston, to win the Volvo account. Sacks complained that a previous Arnold ad for Fidelity Investments showed a father in a negative light. Arnold has since won the account and Sacks said he has no issues with the agency's ads for Volvo.
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February 25th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Like water starting over the proverbial dam, we need to continue to read and run with situations such as this so that our voice is heard throughout advertising-land. This situations can't be treated as one-and-done deals and need to be the foundation of an ongoing, relentless effort.
Kudos to you, Glenn, and all of the writers and anyone else associated with such meaningful campaigns. You deserve the credit.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Nice! We are starting to become noticed, things will start to happen. Good going Glenn and the rest of everyone!
b
February 25th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Congrats, Glenn!
Depicting fathers as buffoons or selfish children, and mothers as wise, brilliant and put-upon, tells our sons several things, none of which are good: (1) Fathers are, at best, flawed parents; at worst, they are to be avoided at all costs. Mothers, on the other hand, are the "real" parents; and (2) Our sons were born into a flawed gender, and they are flawed because they are male.
February 25th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
"The Spike network, home to Ultimate Fighting Championship and Steven Segal movies, is channeling that testosterone-fueled lineage to cater to that frequently mocked demo: dads.
"The idea is proving to be an advertiser magnet, with Red Lobster recently inking a first-time deal for True Dads, an on-air series of spots that show dads spending time with their kids. Call it the slightly softer side of Spike."
This is bias. "Testosterone" is portrayed as something opposite to "spending time with kids", which is referred to as the softer "side" of Spike.
February 25th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
To Glenn and others who achieved this success with Brandweek and Spike, great work. Its a very positive step. It gives me some hope that eventually even though government denies my children their fathering at whim of a hostile mother will eventually be identified as 'True Dads' as well.
February 25th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Great stuff!
February 25th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
feedback@brandweek.com
Dad Bad Ads
Dear Sir or Madam,
Good afternoon.
I read your article “The Biz: Spike Takes Break From Bond Marathons To Laud Fathers.”
I recently came from South America. I observed no negative images of fathers on television, in the newspapers or magazines.
While American culture is popular in some parts of South America, feminism’s message that men are bad, and women are good is mostly left at the door.
The consequence of bad dad images is that it creates a false stereotype, and I do not want that. I want fathers to be honored.
Respect is a choice, not an approach.
Sincerely,
Mark Ruffolo, MS, MBA
February 25th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Compare government and media's message of women, for example.
A woman leader of The Comprehensive Offender Rehabilitation and Education (CORE). a scholl that helps educate people charged with drunk drivering. Cioffi was charged with "DUI with property damage, leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, resisting arrest without violence and disorderly intoxication."
She was over 4 times the legal limit of 0.08%.
State Attorney Bruce Colton, president of CORE's board of directors. said "I feel bad for Peggy because this is very out of character for her."
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/feb/20/on-the-web-comprehensive-offender-rehabilitation
February 25th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Glenn may not have derailed the Arnold bid at Volvo, but I can assure you that Volvo's selection of Arnold has derailed a significant number of Volvo auto sales.
Not only that, it has activated some individuals like myself to
1. rent a few Volvos so as to discover from personal experience their current "features" -- including unattractive ones,
2. research prior ad fraud by Volvo -- for example the fraudulently staged crash ads which Volvo was charged with having made in the past, and
3. develop a comprehensive anti-Volvo pitch which we repeat at every opportunity to any and all in range whenever someone mentions the thought of purchasing a Volvo -- or any car where a Volvo might wrongly be considered a candidate.
Yes, Volvo did the stupid "I'm in charge -- these activists can't tell ME what to do" act of hiring Arnold despite Arnold's despicable male-bashing record and marketplace opposition to this hiring action,
AND, in doing so, Volvo did the also stupid thing of giving birth to a larger number of anti-Volvo disciples than current Volvo management will ever realize (I say "current" because future management will, by then, definitely be assessing the damage done by current management through this bad call.)
Curious that Volvo's non-U.S. car sales are apparently the source of its growth in 2007: See this report from Volvo: "Feb 20, 2008 -- With worldwide sales totalling 458,323 cars, Volvo Cars increased its total global sales by 7.4 percent compared with 2006 - a record-breaking result. The old record was set in 2004 when Volvo Cars sold 456,244 units. The biggest volume increase was achieved in Northern Europe, Russia and China."
Seems like they have a bit of a problem with the pattern of their growth -- a problem localized to America.
Meanwhile, Volvo's owner FORD, has shown that bad judgement seems to have infected the U.S. parent (Ford) of Volvo -- Ford has already achieved in 2008 it's lowest stock price ever in the past 10 years. Ouch!
Interesting that on the heels of its now former male-bashing ads (from Arnold?) the Fidelity company replaced its entire retail- facing management structure from it's head of advertising up to the officer just below its Chairman, Mr. Johnson, who they say is a 3rd generation owner of this family business. Seems that 3rd generation Mr. Johnson knows how to swiftly correct an error while William Clay Ford, the 4th generation owner at Ford (great-grandson of Henry Ford), has allowed this particular error to fester at Volvo.
But who knows? Maybe wholesale replacement of a management structure at Fidelity portends what could be in store for those at Volvo who happily funnel fees to male-bashers at Arnold, whether the specific and current Volvo ads are bashing or not? Giving Arnold future fees is a problem isn't it in that giving sustanance (money) to those who are episodic hate-mongers keeps hate-mongering alive doesn't it? Of course, it might be hard to keep Arnold on the payroll if Volvo's and Ford's U.S. market shares continue to slip into the abyss, mightn't it?
Oh well.
I wonder what Henry Ford would have thought about all of this.
Then again, wasn't Henry Ford the subject of a book entitled " Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate", authored by Neil Baldwin? Hmmm.
Hey, maybe minority-group-directed hate-mongering is just part of the culture of Ford? (And yes, men are a voting minority in America.)
Nah. Can't be that. Must be that Henry Clay Ford is just too busy with other problems to reign in errant ad managers at comparatively tiny Volvo and their comparatively slow-growing U.S. business.
Too bad for Ford shareholders.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I can no longer find glenn's recent thread about dominoes pizza ads. Either it was removed or I am going really blind!
Regarding this topic about brandweek, I am glad that our work is getting noticed!
Masculist XY
February 25th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Anyone ever heard of the science known as memetics? It's the study of self-replicating units of culture. The meme of memetics is analogous to the biochemical gene of genetics. Memes propagate and evolve in Darwinian and other ways.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics
When we address these issues, we should be thinking creatively along these lines. These concepts should guide us in generating a new paradigm, talking points, a concise and broadly appealing written doctrine and a slogan that can encapsulate and transmit this new paradigm.
We're lighting an ideological fire. It needs to be one that's well considered. It needs to be one that's designed to spread.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Now Richard is on to something here....we should all pay attention IMHO.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Masculist XY Says "I can no longer find glenn's recent thread about dominoes pizza ads. Either it was removed or I am going really blind!"
There was a technical issue with the video, sorry.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Helps fathers. Too bad for single men.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Misandric ads will continue.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Step by step, inch by inch, progress WILL be made.
Our voices CAN be heard. Glenn, thanks for providing the sounding board / launch pad!
Keep those cards and letters coming, folks... .
February 25th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Elbow, a writing teacher, says that people who come up against a wall in their writing can use this resistance to break into startling fluency. This movement is helping advertisers to communicate.
Imagine the rush of revenue (social and otherwise) when ads do start to speak to and for young men who might just have it in them to be fathers and are already proud of it..
February 26th, 2008 at 2:10 am
Dare I say we are "Breaking the Silence"? Oops, bad choice of words...
February 26th, 2008 at 2:47 am
I was wondering what had happened to the recent Dominos pizza ad thread also. I was a bit disappointed to have it pulled, as I posted some very insightful writing there.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Thanx, Glenn!
February 26th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Nick S Says "I was wondering what had happened to the recent Dominos pizza ad thread also."
As I said, technical issues, sorry for the inconvenience.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
You know Richard Smeglick, I saw a lecture by Dawson about a year ago. While I agree with the basic premise of the existence of the phenomenon, I am not sure that I agree that it should be used by the men's movement as posed by Dawson.
I would rather see Family Law reform take the model of the Declaration of Independence that assumes that we all have other things we would rather be doing, but are instead forced to take upon ourselves this task of setting straight what has been broken, and we will be free to get back to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as soon as the situation is duly addressed.
I see that feminism, combined with political forces such as an oversupply of lawyers with an undersupply of punishment to lawyers, has created one such memetic which we collectively know as Family Law. I for one do not want to create the opposite, but equally evil political manifest.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Glenn,
sorry I didn't make it clear. I had already read your above comment about the technical difficulties. I was just engaging in some self-pity, as I had been looking forward to the ego boost of having my finest insights published:-)
Technology can be a cruel master.
February 27th, 2008 at 1:53 am
Stephen,
I assume you're referring to Dawkins.
As this blog post is about portrayals of fathers, husbands and men in advertising, this is the subject on which I'm commenting.
A meme can be simply defined as an idea. Memetics can be defined as the study of the propagation of ideas. I can't imaging you're suggesting that our aims don't involve the propagation of ideas. We're clearly trying to change the views of those who generate and pay for ads in which men are portrayed negatively. This must involve the propagation of new ideas, or the alteration of the ways and extents to which existing ones are expressed. Either way, the process must involve not just direct persuasion, but the propagation of views between people in the advertising community. Neither Dawkins nor memetics itself pose a method for the use of the science. To say that we should not employ the study of idea propagation to our efforts to propagate ideas is like saying that aerodynamics, the study of air flow, should not be applied in the design of aircraft.
We're in a position here to invent the ways the message and activism are delivered to the media and to those in the advertising world. But the message doesn't get defined by those leading the activism. It gets defined by the community here and by the broader community. If it didn't, those in the media and in advertising wouldn't be listening so closely. Without accurately reflecting a "meme" or idea that's prevalent in society, we can only have influence to the extent to which we can create disruption. But activism that accurately reflects the views of this large community and of many in the broader society is much more interesting to those who have the power to drive the change we seek.
When 3,000 - 4,000 people each state their personal views on the subject to a marketer, those that read a few dozen of these views get a pretty clear picture of how people feel about the issue. That's one of the reasons the approach works so well. But in the past five years, there probably haven't been 50 people who have read a significant sampling of the emails that have been sent.
We need to reach more marketers and advertising people in less time, we need to accurately reflect the broader social concern in our communication, we need to convey the concern in a persuasive and transformative way and we need to raise the stakes to the point where they recognize that they must act on the information they've come to understand.
How do we do that? We capture the broader societal view, we codify it concisely and persuasively in a statement of principles, we give this set of ideas a meaningful and memorable name, we define talking points so we can project an effective, coherent and self-reinforcing message, we define a slogan that encapsulates the entire effort and we keep inventing better approaches to high stakes activism. When we reach the majority in the advertising world with these elements, we will have given them:
1. something to talk about.
2. an easy way to bring up the subject.
3. something to remember, and this will be recognized by them as a shared memory.
4. a hook (the slogan) on which they can hang this new shared memory and from which they can access it.
5. a clear image of this important public concern.
6. a framework that they can see as a common basis for new approaches.
7. a means to access an in-depth factual basis for the new paradigm.
8. a means for them to share the in-depth factual basis for this new paradigm.
9. a starting point for their own formulation of a new paradigm.
We've become pretty good at conveying information within our movement. We know how to send thousands of emails to a few people at a time. We've certainly made progress in gaining access to the media. Now we need to learn how to spread a transformative message in the community we seek to influence.
February 27th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Very interesting post Richard. Yes, I did mean Dawkin, sry, it was late and I was sleepy...oh, and I am bad with names.
So, my recollection of the concept that Dawkin had spoke of was that an idea can be like a virus, causing a self replication technique that tends to suppress opposition by its very nature. Religion for example, conversion by the sword and so on.
While I completely agree with you that as a movement, we need to refine our message, I am just concerned that it will become self replicating and take on a life of it's own, much as feminism did. Its message will evolve to protect itself, rather than simply achieving the goals it founders invisioned.
The framers of the Constitution put a good deal of effort in trying to make sure that their new government did not become a monster as so many governments have. I guess my point is that we should show as much care in our own bylaws.
The power of a large, injured and angry male faction may be more damaging than feminism has been, if it does not establish some good controls early on.
Clearly one such control that has been percolating is many people's use of the term 'Family Movement' rather than 'Men's Movement.' By establishing the target beneficiary as the family, the fundamental social unit which all society is based on, then, we guarantee maintaining a reasonable level of humanity even at the post midpoint of the pendulum swing.
Only young singles, gays, lesbians, and antisocials may have reason to fear a strong family unit. And I am not convinced that young singles do not actually benefit from having had a strong family background to help them through their years of independence prior to permanent mating. Similarly, even Gays and Lesbians benefit in the same way.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Bias: "Testosterone" is portrayed as something opposite to "spending time with kids", which is referred to as the softer "side" of Spike.
More Bias: In a MacDonald's commercial, a mother asks her daughter if we should invite dad next time.